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OU softball freshman Sophia Bordi getting ahead of the curve

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•about 9 hours•

BPrzybylo

We already know the 2025 OU softball team is full of new faces. There’s just eight returning players from the team that won its fourth straight national championship.

But we’ve spent the last few months getting to know all the transfers and freshmen. The No. 3-ranked Sooners begin the season Thursday in California.

Last month, though, threw another wrench into things. A good one, but something you don’t see too common in softball.

Class of 2025 pitcher Sophia Bordi reclassified to join OU for this season. It’d be foolish to expect much of anything from her in 2025, but it’s still a pretty big deal.

“She is quite behind, and I think she knows that,” head coach Patty Gasso told SoonerScoop. “When you miss a complete fall, you’re jumping into a team that already has the system down. And so she’s just trying to learn the system. The goal was to get her to be able to throw some BP against us, to get in with Coach Rocha. Listen, learn, get strong in the weight room. 

“That’s probably the biggest thing that we’re looking for, is that she gains strength. If we had an emergency, break the glass, bring in Sophia. That’s the only way we would ever do it.  I do want to maintain her redshirt unless we absolutely need her. But I think it’s great. I’m really excited about what her (progress). She’s going to be so ahead of her normal class that’s coming in next year. Think she could lead them, guide them with her experience as well.”

Reclassifying really started to pick up steam in the last 5-10 years. You’re seeing it quite a bit in football and basketball. Hey, its not like OU isn’t benefitting from it. Look at what freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears has been able to do.

Just don’t see it too often in softball. And Gasso went in-depth on what the process was like and how everything came together.

Simply put? It wasn’t something Gasso had ever been planning to do. Just worked out that way. And the plan is absolutely to keep her redshirt in the months ahead.

“She had already — we didn’t even talk about this,” Gasso said. “She did graduate, actually, in, I think, June already. A year in advance. I didn’t even know it. I’m not normally looking for that. She told me that she was gonna go in the spring and live in California and train with her travel ball team and get a job. And I’m like, ‘What if we could get you in here?’ 

“I talked to her mother, who was just an elite — I think she might’ve been an Olympian, but she was an All-American at Texas (as a) swimmer. She knows about college athletics. And I said, we could do this. And they were all in. It made more sense for each party. And what she’s gonna develop, she’s gonna have such a major head start, and I foresee her being one of our elite pitchers in the future.”

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